Handmade greeting cards 'suitable for framing'

Local business owner's wares sold at Plymouth shop.

Local business owner's wares sold at Plymouth shop.

October 05, 2006|IDA CHIPMAN Tribune Correspondent

Who really reads greeting cards anymore? People often just rip the envelope open, grab any money that might be inside, see who signed the card and put it in a stack or tape it to the refrigerator. Shelley Heiden's cards are meant to be different. They are simple, sensitive cards, beautifully made and tastefully decorated with a bit of delicate ribbon or a unique snippet of frayed colored paper. Each one is hand-assembled and each comes with a matching envelope. Shelley, an advertising designer, started making personalized greeting cards as a hobby. She's been creating her dressed-up postcards for the past three years, mostly for family and friends. Folks began encouraging her to go into business when they compared her product and prices to commercial cards. Shelley's "Said Simply" note cards are a hot item in town at Barb Wendel's Frame Shoppe in downtown Plymouth. People can't get enough and are waiting anxiously for the Christmas card line to find a special card for the exceptional people in their lives. "There is no comparison," said Lynn Gee. "Each one is so unique and a gift in itself, often suitable for framing. "You just can't throw them away after opening! They are keepsakes." Many have stories. "I made a wedding card for an Objewe American Indian couple," Shelley said. "Part of the card is in the Indian language that I was able to research on the computer. It was incredibly fun." She created a special engagement card for a Culver man who proposed on a hot summer day in a boat on Lake Maxinkuckee. He wanted his and his fiancée's blended family to be a part of the sacrament of marriage and included them all in the original verse. Shelley, originally from Granger, is a 1973 graduate of Clay High School. She earned a degree in advertising in 1976 from the Kendall School of Design in Grand Rapids. Her first job was with an in-house agency in Grand Haven, Mich., doing advertising for pneutronic tools. She then worked for six years with Marksmakers, an ad agency in South Bend. "I learned so much from them," she said. "They taught me the team concept. "In the creative field, you learn from many minds and eyes and how to separate yourself from your work. One important thing is how to polish concepts and improve upon them." She's been married for 30 years to Bob Heiden, a golf pro formerly at Knollwood Golf Course, who sat across from her for four years in high school. He had written in her yearbook, "I'll see you in your rocking chair." To their delight, on their 25th wedding anniversary in 2001, their three children, Robert Jr., Matt and Gretchen, gave them a pair of matching rocking chairs. Eventually, after moving to South Bend and then to Mishawaka, Shelley became a stay-at-home mom and started her own business, Heiden Creative, where she did brochures and newspaper ads. For two years with Imprint Agency, she put out a trade supplement, "Today In Michiana." "I also had the luxury of working part time with a couple of advertising agencies," she said. The family moved to Plymouth in 1994, where Bob started his own construction company. "We came to Plymouth," she said, "because we wanted to be close to family and because of the excellent school system for our children." Shelley's first job here was as sales manager and creative director of IP Graphics. She is now solely involved with her own Heiden Creative Company, made up of a team of professionals. "We have five artists, four writers and a photographer, but not under one roof," she explained. In September, Shelley displayed her artistic cards at the Tri-Kappa Province convention in Plymouth, where they were a sensation. At the Frame Shoppe, Barb Wendel has had cards for less than six months. "People come in," she said, "and will buy three, four or five at a time. "Each one is very special."